It was 23 years ago today that Tupac Shakur died after being gunned down in a drive-by shooting.

Aged just 25, he was shot four times - twice in the chest, once in the arm and once in the thigh - as he pulled up outside Las Vegas' Club 662 in a black BMW owned by Death Row Records boss Suge Knight.

He clung onto life for six days after the attack, with his entourage maintaining a round-the-clock vigil in case his attackers returned to finish the job.

He was gunned down in a drive-by outside Las Vegas' Club 622 (Image: Googlemaps)

But that week in hospital is as shrouded in mystery as the murder itself, with conflicting reports claiming he was unconscious the entire time, and others stating he was laughing and joking with pals shortly before his death.

And fans reckon there are way too many holes in the story, with many convinced Tupac faked his own death.

According to the first officer who arrived at the scene, Chris Carroll, a retired sergeant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Tupac lost consciousness after he pulled him from the car.

A police officer said Tupac lost consciousness after being pulled out of the car (Image: The LIFE Images Collection via G)

He clung onto life for six days at the University Medical Centre of Southern Nevada (Image: Googlemaps)

"I kept asking over and over, ‘Who did this? Who shot you?’ And he basically kept ignoring me," Carroll recalled.

"And then all of a sudden in the snap of a finger, he changed. And he went from struggling to speak, being non cooperative, to an 'I’m at peace' type of thing. And that’s when I looked at him and said one more time, 'Who shot you?'

"He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: 'F*** you.'

Fans are convinced he faked his own death (Image: WireImage)

"After that, he started gurgling and slipping out of consciousness. At that point, an ambulance showed up, and he went into unconsciousness."

Carroll rode with him in the ambulance to the University Medical Centre of Southern Nevada, but said he never woke up.